By Dr. W. Gifford Jones
June 24, 1990
Moses, a recent story goes, was given the scroll containing the Commandments, but 11 were listed. He studied them while walking down Mount of Olives. Suddenly there was a huge flash of lightning and a voice thundered," Forget the one about oat bran!" This story illustrates the current public confusion about oat bran. For years nutritionists have preached the benefits of increasing the intake of dietary fibre. Then earlier this year the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a study debunking the theory that oat bran lowers blood cholesterol. The research made headlines around the world, cereal stocks dipped and many North Americans stopped consuming oat bran and fiber foods. The winners were the laxative companies who smiled all the way to the bank. But is this study right?
It involved a group of individuals who consumed 90 grams of oat bran daily for six weeks in the form of either muffins or two high fiber entrees a day. This diet produced a 7.5 per cent drop in their level of blood cholesterol. The same group then ate a low fiber diet for six weeks and their cholesterol level fell by 7 per cent. So the question became, why bother to eat oat bran?
But newspaper headlines often leave out the most critical part of the story. They should have emphasized that a mere 20 individuals participated in the research. They were all healthy people whose cholesterol levels were in the desirable range initially. It's therefore not surprising that oat bran failed to decrease blood cholesterol further. As one sage professor at The Harvard Medical School once reminded us, "If a patient doesn't have any symptoms it's impossible to make him feel better."
The deck was stacked in other ways as well. For instance, 16 of the 20 participants were healthy women, mostly dieticians, with an average age of 30! Good sense dictates the results might have been vastly different if older people with high cholesterol levels had been followed. Moreover, researchers admitted the high fiber food had also contained more fat during the six weeks.
Why did blood cholesterol decrease in both experiments? It's known that some dietary fibers do bind bile acids and therefore have a cholesterol lowering effect. But it's also possible the addition of oat bran left less room in their diet for high fat foods which tend to increase blood cholesterol.
My advice is to let scientists debate how oat bran lowers blood cholesterol. In the meantime, don't discard healthy eating habits because of sensational headlines. There's still considerable evidence a high fiber diet is beneficial for those at increased risk of heart disease.
But suppose dietary fiber can be proven to be worthless in combating coronary disease? There's overwhelming evidence including common sense that it's essential to good bowel function. Simply try this test. Take three tablespoonsful of oat bran, a shredded wheat and a banana (or any other fruit) every morning for a month. Bowel contents become noticeably softer, more bulky and movements comparable to squeezing toothpaste out of a tube.
Years ago Sylvester Graham of graham cracker fame justifiably complained when the milling of wheat produced white flour devoid of roughage or bran. Taking away what nature had provided set the stage for many of today's lifestyle problems.
Later Dr. Denis Burkitt noted the rarity of many "Western" diseases in Africans whom he treated. They didn't suffer from constipation, hemorrhoids, appendicitis, hiatus hernia or colonrectal cancer. They were also free of diabetes, coronary heart disease and hypertension. And they also consumed large amounts of dietary fiber.
How can increased dietary fiber accomplish so much? Fiber is a good source of vitamins and minerals but contains no calories. By providing bulk to the stomach it fights obesity and in turn diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Fiber also holds onto water, and keeps the bowel well-oiled so there's less straining with bowel movements, thus preventing hemorrhoids.
There's also good news about fiber and cancer of the large bowel. We know that colonrectal cancers have been prevented in laboratory animals by dietary fiber. There's reason to suspect this happens in humans as a slippery bowel speeds up passage of carcinogens from the large intestine.
Dr. Jerome De Cosse of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York also reports in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that a diet high in fiber helps to inhibit the growth of rectal polyps which often develop into cancer.
One final thought for those who are concerned about the high cost of medical care. Dr. Burkitt made this interesting observation years ago. He remarked that the size and frequency of human stools are inversely proportional to the number of hospital visits!
W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com
My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:
Giff Holdings, 525 Balliol St, Unit # 6,Toronto, Ontario, M4S 1E1
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